Caruana Beats Anand In Zurich!

Fabiano Caruana finally broke the deadlock at the Zurich Chess Challenge in the fourth round, beating world champion Vishy Anand to take the overall lead!

The game was a complicated struggle arising out of the Ruy Lopez, with Anand sacrificing one of his rooks in return for a knight and pawn. The champion also achieved extra compensation in the form of a protected passed pawn, and didn't seem to be in any danger. However, a single slip just after the first time control with 41.Bg2? was enough to hand the win to Caruana on a plate.

Fabiano Caruana leads the Zurich Chess Challenge

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The encounter between Boris Gelfand and Vladimir Kramnik was even more exciting, and seemed the more likely of the games to produce a decisive result! Vladimir Kramnik played uncharacteristically dynamic and risky chess which should perhaps have been rewarded with victory. His sacrifice of a knight for a pawn with 22...Nxf2!? created great complications.

When a Kramnik mistake with 29...Qa7? (30. R4e3! +-) went unpunished by Gelfand it seemed as if the game was up. But despite Gelfand's pieces cowering on the kingside protecting his king from Kramnik's awesome bishop pair, time trouble inaccuracies resulted in simplification and a draw.

Vladimir Kramnik

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Standings After 4 Rounds

Name

Fed

Elo

Pts

Caruana, Fabiano

ITA

2757

2½

Gelfand, Boris

ISR

2740

2

Kramnik, Vladimir

RUS

2810

2

Anand, Viswanathan

IND

2780

1½

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Remaining Rounds

Round 5

Boris Gelfand

v

Viswanathan Anand

Vladimir Kramnik

v

Fabiano Caruana

Round 6

Viswanathan Anand

v

Vladimir Kramnik

Fabiano Caruana

v

Boris Gelfand

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Remaining Schedule (times = GMT+1)

Thu

Feb-28

15:00

Round 5

Fri

Mar-01

13:00

Round 6

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The time control is 2 hours for 40 moves, then 1 hour for the next 20 moves, and 15 minutes plus a 30-second increment for the remainder of the game. If a game is drawn before move 40, the players will play an additional rapid exhibition game (not counting towards the scores).